New Beginnings
by CaptainKrueger
Summary: Based off an idea that perhaps the reason why Raphael's parents seemingly "forget" about him in the dub is because they're under mind control, courtesy of Dartz. With Dartz gone, the spell is broken, bringing memories and questions Raphael can't allow himself to answer. The following chapters are loosely connected vignettes that explore the once broken. Complete summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

Note: Based off an AU I have taken from the dub where Raphael's family is still alive. A friend of mine introduced me to the idea that perhaps the reason why Raphael's parents seemingly "forget" about him in the dub is because they're under mind control, courtesy of Dartz. Not pictured is Raphael confronting his parents after the events of canon to see how they could "forget" about him, and demanding answers. With Dartz gone, the spell is broken, bringing back a flood of memories and so many questions Raphael can't allow himself to answer. The following chapters are loosely connected vignettes that explore the once broken family picking up the pieces.

Also, I've given Raphael's parents names: Élise and Nicolas.

* * *

It was the dead of night, enveloping the house in a beautiful silence that Raphael took a moment to appreciate after he stepped out of his room. The staff had all left hours ago and his family was asleep, though it had taken Julien a couple hours longer than the rest of the household to put down his sketchbook and crawl into bed.

Raphael looked to his brother's door, his eyes long adjusted to the dark since he hadn't been able to sleep since everyone had turned in, and he smiled fondly at his little brother's dedication to his work. The young man's room was covered in his designs, and Raphael had to admire him for finding something he could do with his life that he loved. Raphael couldn't say he'd done the same for himself.

He turned his gaze to the marble staircase, which he descended slowly and quietly, not wanting to disrupt the peace that had settled upon the house. This time of night allowed him to be in his childhood home without feeling his family's unending staring. Mostly it was of wonder and disbelief, but he never failed to catch the hint of sadness written on his mother's face whenever he glanced over at her during his conversations with Sonia and Julien or his father.

When he reached the end of the steps, Raphael padded past the foyer and made his way to the living room. He walked up to the fire place, above which sat the family portrait, bathed in enough moonlight for him to be able to make out his family's faces. Being the eldest child, Raphael sat as the focal point of the picture, sitting in front of his parents and in between his brother and sister. He stared at the picture, trying to remember how old he'd been when they'd sat down to take it. He figured he was either nine or ten when it had been taken, leaving him a few more happy years with his family before that fateful birthday of his.

The sound of metal falling to the ground broke through the silence, startling Raphael out of his memories. He looked in the direction of the kitchen and saw a light on. Exhaling slowly, he walked over to see who was awake with him so late at night, and he found his mother, who'd only turned on a light near the stove to light her way.

Élise gasped when she looked up and saw him standing in the doorway. "Oh, my darling," she chuckled, straightening herself and hugging a strainer to her chest. "I-I didn't know you were awake."

"I couldn't sleep," he replied, walking closer to his mother and coming to a stop a few feet away to lean against a cabinet.

"Mm," she said, putting the strainer back in its cabinet and pulling out an electric kettle. "Neither can I. I came down here to make some tea. Would you like some, Raphael?"

"No, thank you."

"Something else, perhaps?" she asked, tilting her head at him. "Are you hungry? Can I make you something?"

"I'm fine, Mom."

"So if you don't want anything to drink and you don't want anything to eat, why _are_ you down here?" she inquired, moving over to the next cabinet and then standing on her toes to open up a door above the counter to pull out a box of chamomile.

"I just…" he said, trailing off as he looked for the right words. "I just wanted a look around–"

"With no one around to bother you," Élise supplied, finishing his sentence for him.

He coughed. "I… I wouldn't say that, but–"

"No, no. It's all right, dear. It's only your first day back with us," Élise said calmly, taking out a tea bag and putting the box back up. She walked over to the cabinet that held the cups and glasses, and she stood on her toes again to open it, but before she could even grab the door handle she wilted, sinking back down to stand flat on her feet. She set the tea bag down on the counter and slowly turned around to look him in the eye, the corners of her lips sinking down as her chin trembled. "After all, it's–it's been so long. You–you've been gone…so–so long."

He took large, quick steps to close the distance between them so he could hug his mother, his heart aching to see her so troubled.

A strangled sob escaped Élise's lips, and she buried her face in the smooth cotton fabric of his shirt, taking it in her hands and balling them into fists as her slender frame shook with sobs she tried but failed to contain. "And–and to think I didn't even_ know_ because I'd forgotten," she wailed, her voice muffled by his shirt. "What kind of mother does that make me?"

Raphael squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed slow circles on her back. He could explain that she and the rest of the family had fallen victim to the man who had taken him away from them, but what comfort would that bring her when no one would believe him? He listened to his mother cry, felt her convulse in his arms, and all he could offer her was, "It's all right, Mom. I'm–I'm here now."

Élise pulled away, her eyes glistening and her face damp. "But it's been so long, Raphael. So many years, gone. And we will never get them back."

"But we still have many more left," he offered. "Just… Please stop crying. I can't stand to see you hurting like this."

Élise sniffled, then pressed the light pink sleeve of her robe against her face to dry her tears. "You're–you're right, darling," she replied, her voice weak and shaking as she tried to regain her composure. "What matters most is that you're here now. But still, I feel as if I've been forced to make up for fourteen years of grief in the span of a few weeks."

"I understand."

She exhaled slowly, putting on a smile made bittersweet by the way her brows knit together and the flesh around her eyes crinkled. "You know, I still can't believe how much you've grown. You went from this tall," she said, holding up her hand to her chest, then she stood on her toes and held her hand level with his hairline, "to this tall. You must get it from your father's side."

He smiled at his mother, chuckling softly. "Probably."

She grabbed one of his hands and held it between her own, taking a moment to examine it. Raphael looked down, remembering how his hands used to be smaller than hers, and now just one of his dwarfed both of hers. Élise looked up at him and said hesitantly, "I… I want the both of us to go shopping tomorrow, just you and me. We can get anything you'd like."

Raphael continued to smile at her, his eyes getting softer. "All right."

"And then I'd like us to get lunch," she added, letting his hand go. "Our favorite restaurant is still open, if you can believe it. Does that sound good to you, darling?"

"It sounds wonderful."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Dear god, I just found out through a review that this chapter was basically unreadable. This is what I get for not checking. Fixed now.

* * *

"Raphael?"

"Yes, Mom?"

Élise is staring at him over her coffee mug. The liquid is still piping hot, and the steam rising from her drink is warming her face. She blows carefully, then sets the mug back down on the table. Nicolas is away on a business trip; Julien and Sonia are away at school. It's just the two of them, taking their breakfast outside in the garden.

He looks back at her, waiting patiently for her to ask her question.

She swallows the moisture in the back of her mouth, then looks down at her drink. "Darling," she says softly, at a volume so quiet she has to question whether she's spoken at all. "What–what happened that night? The night we got separated from you."

Her son pales a little at her question, and Élise can tell that after all these years, the memories are still fresh. She picks her coffee up and blows on it again, waiting on his answer.

Staring at him as he retreats into himself, his blue eyes shifting to the side in thought, Élise realizes that she could stare at him for hours. How many years were lost? Fourteen, was it?

Élise takes another sip of her coffee. It's not scalding, but it's just on the right side of intolerable.

Fourteen years.

Fourteen years not remembering her eldest.

_Oh, Raphael._

He finally looks back up at her, inhaling slowly. She notices the way his chest and shoulders rise and then fall gradually. He's wearing a white cotton t-shirt that fits him snugly, accentuating his wide chest and broad shoulders. His arms are massive. He's grown up so very much in the years that have passed. A stranger could take one look at him and think he was the family bodyguard instead of the eldest Auberjonois child.

"I washed up on an island," he finally explains.

She licks her lips. They're sweet with milk and sugar. "Oh. So you were alone?"

He nods. "For three years."

Élise closes her eyes, taking a moment to compose herself as she feels the threat of tears tug within her. She abhors crying in front of her children, and she's already cried in front of him once since his return. She won't be doing it again. She opens her eyes again. "You must have been terribly lonely."

He bows his head. "At least–at least I had something to remind me of you all."

"You did?"

He nodded. "My guardians. Sonia and Julien gave me my third one on my birthday, remember?"

Despite her sorrow over her son's fate, Élise manages a smile. "From that card game you played?"

He returns her smile. "That one."

Élise chuckles lightly. "Three years," she repeats, in disbelief that her son had managed. The family hadn't exactly ever gone camping.

"You can read about it, actually. I was in the papers and a few magazines."

"And somehow we missed this," Élise replies, her smile vanishing. "We–we forgot you even existed!"

He looks at her somberly and swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. "It's…it's all right, Mom," he says weakly.

"Did–did you know we were alive?" she asks tentatively.

He stares at her in silence for a long time, then dips his head once.

"Why–why didn't you come to us?"

"I didn't think you wanted me," Raphael says quietly. "No one did."

Élise presses the palms of her hands together, then rests her nose against her pointer fingers, bowing her head and squeezing her eyes shut. A small shudder runs through her. Once she's composed herself again, she removes her hands from her face and looks back up into his eyes. "So what changed?"

"I finally felt strong enough to come looking for you."

Her breath hitches, a tiny sob shaking through her. "W-well, I'm…" Her chin and lower lip are shaking. She's lost the battle. "I'm–I'm glad you did."

She's sobbing quietly into her hands, and she can hear the legs of his chair scraping against the cobblestone as he gets up and walks over to her. She feels his strong arms around her.

Honestly, this is silly of her. She remembers him now and he's back in her life. She has no reason to keep crying. And yet she hasn't reached a place where she can stop. She was separated from her firstborn child for fourteen years and she had no idea. He'd felt alone and unwanted for some of his most tender years of life. How can she _not_ cry?

Eventually she's able to squeeze out a few words. "I–I love you, Raphael."

"I love you, too, Mom."

She exhales shakily, then looks up at him. He lets her go, then takes a step back. He takes her by the hands and helps her onto her feet. She throws her arms around him and rests her head on his chest. She's reminded of the time when he was shorter than her, when the roles were switched. She gives him a squeeze, then steps back to look up into his eyes. "I'm–I'm sorry, darling."

"Don't apologize, Mom," he says gently, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek. "This can't be easy on you."

"No," she concedes.

"And that's okay," he continues. "You're entitled to your feelings."

She sniffles, then looks down. "I just don't like it when my children have to comfort me. It's _my_ job to comfort you."

"You may be my mother, but you're also human, Mom," he says softly. "Let me take care of you once in a while. I'm more than old enough for that now."

Élise looks back up at him and nods. "You're right," she replies. "You're right, Raphael. You're all grown up. It's just that…you'll always be my little boy in my eyes. Even if you're not so little anymore."

They chuckle at that.

"I know," he says.

"Come," she says, sitting back down. "Let's finally enjoy our breakfast. It's getting cold."

He smiles at her. "Okay, Mom."


	3. Chapter 3

Julien's stare is intense as Raphael hands him his deck of cards, and it's a seriousness Raphael is still unused to from Julien, but for when he finds him working on sketches or at the sewing machine. In truth, Raphael often forgets that his brother feels anything other than amusement at the world around him. He'd cried with the rest of the family when Raphael came knocking, but he'd never betrayed any signs that he was feeling conflicted emotions like Sonia and their parents had. Once he'd dried his tears, he'd had a good laugh and started treating Raphael like he'd never left.

Inhaling quietly, Julien takes the deck, and flips the first card over. Eatos' card stares up at him, poised to attack. A strangled cry sounds in Julien's throat, and the younger of the two squeezes his eyes shut.

_"What have we here?"  
_

_"Hurry up an' open it!"_

Tracking the card down had been a shared effort between Julien and Sonia, but Julien had been the one to hand the card to Raphael on the last birthday he'd celebrated with his family. Raphael is now much more skeptical when it comes to fate, but to think that _this _is the card to greet Julien…

Inhaling shakily, Julien opens his eyes, two tears spilling out and falling to the floor. Swallowing, he runs his fingers down Eatos' well-worn card face. "You…kept it all these years," he whispers, a note of disbelief in his words.

"That card saved me," Raphael says earnestly, keeping his gaze on Julien, though his brother refuses to look at him. "It, along with my other guardians, was all I had on the island."

Julien starts to say something, but thinks better of it. Probably some kind of joke that even he knows is inappropriate in this setting.

Raphael swallows. "They…brought me comfort." He's not going to tell him the extent of it. Julien knows nothing of the bond between a duelist and his monsters, never mind the supernatural. It's just another secret in the many Raphael has from his family. This one, unlike the others, however, is harmless.

"I–I see," Julien replies quietly. He sinks down to the ground, sitting cross-legged as he turns the deck over, then spreads the cards out. He finds Kay'est and Grarl, placing them on either side of Eatos, and he stares at them. Raphael wonders if his brother can feel the warmth radiating from the cards like he can.

Still gazing at the trio of cards, Julien doesn't look up as Raphael's protectors manifest themselves before Julien. They look at Raphael, and he stares back.

Eatos gazes down at Julien, her eyes glowing warmly as she smiles at the boy. Looking back up at Raphael, she nods at him, then all three guardians return to their cards.

Julien, unaware of what has just transpired, turns his attention to the other cards, running his fingers over some. "They're all so worn out," he comments. "Couldn't you just get new ones?"

Raphael sits down on the ground next to his brother, gazing down at his deck. Some are more worn than others, but all are equally important to him. "No," he replies simply. "I couldn't do that to them."

"You talk like they have feelings, Brother," Julien chuckles, finally looking at Raphael. He sniffs, quickly wiping at his eyes.

Raphael merely chuckles back, looking back down at the cards. He hasn't used them since he'd tried to challenge Dartz for his soul, and he doesn't know when he'll use them again. He hopes they understand.

"I've heard Mom crying," Julien says suddenly. "It started happening after you came back."

Raphael closes his eyes. "I know." He's pulled back to his first night back, seeing his mother in her pink robe, his shirt balled up in her fists as she cries into his chest. He's in the garden a couple of days later, and she's crying into her hands.

"She refuses to talk about it."

Raphael doesn't say anything to that. It's not just his mother, either. Their father all but avoids him, and Raphael pretends that he doesn't see Sonia staring at him with a crease between her eyebrows when she thinks he's not looking. And now he has to wonder about how all this has been affecting Julien. He's the hardest to read.

"But I don't blame her," Julien continues, saving Raphael the trouble of asking. "It's…really messed up, what happened."

Raphael stares at the ground without really looking at it.

"But…I don't have to remind you of that, do I?"

Raphael grunts.

"It just doesn't make any sense. It's like some kind of government conspiracy, you know?"

Not a government conspiracy, he wants to say, but pulled off by a man with the power of governments.

"But…" Julien goes quiet. Raphael looks back up at him and sees his brother staring at Eatos in thought. "That shouldn't matter anymore. I mean, _it matters_–what happened to you _matters_–but…"

"But I'm here now."

Julien nods vigorously, a smile growing on his face. He throws his arms around Raphael, leaning his weight into him. "Yeah. My big bro is back." He pulls back, beaming at Raphael. Julien has grown so much since Raphael last saw him–changed so much–but that bright smile hasn't left his face. "I–I feel like a hole has been filled in me, y'know…? And I didn't even know I'd had one. Does that make sense?"

"Of course, Julien," Raphael says, smiling in return at his little brother.

"Hey," he continues, sitting back down. "Maybe…maybe you can show me how to play sometime."

"I'd love to."

Julien grins, laughing excitedly.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So this one is really snapshotty in a collection that's supposed to be snapshots. I intend on expanding on the things mentioned in this chapter. Ciao.


End file.
